one person knows all of them. like joseph ratzinger the last time around. he knew all of the cardinals involved. it made it easier for them to coalesce for him for pope. that is not in play at this time and as a result, you know, you have heard it over and over again and you'll hear it more in the coming weeks, at this point there's no front-runner. lot of different men who are being looked at because of their various skills. some of them because of their theological chops, if you will. so, one of the things that i have been doing, we have been watching this video to see who's talking to who and if you can detect any of those secret signals. >> anne if you can stand by for us one second. >>> we're going to quickly hop to castel gandolfo the summer residence where the pope spends his summer. claudio is live there at castel gandolfo. good morning. what are we expecting. what will his life be like in the coming months there? >> well, mara, we're standing here if main square of the ca castel gandolfo. pope benedict xvi will spend about two months until he finally retires inside t

, formerly owned by a man named joseph ratzinger, now known as pope benedict xvi. it's now listed on ebay and online casino bought it first back in 2005. that's the ceo right there. they're hoping to get $150,000. the proceeds will go to charity, they say. >>> also in the "index" tonight, take a look at this video, this 3-year-old nova scotia retriever, got stuck on the ice. on lake michigan. they sent in a chopper first, then a fire boat. finally, a man on a kayak swooped in, he dove into the frigid waters to get him. the dog actually tried to bite the guy. ultimately, they did get the dog off the lake and back with his owner. that's our "instant index" for tonight. >>> coming up next -- we're calling her the footloose first lady, what michelle obama did that's going viral tonight. [ jackie ] it's just so frustrating... ♪ the middle of this special moment and i need to run off to the bathroom. ♪ i'm fed up with always having to put my bladder's needs ahead of my daughter. ♪ so today, i'm finally talking to my doctor about overactive bladder symptoms. [ female announcer ] know

years of his papacy. maybe he wanted to avoid that. the former cardinal joseph ratzinger was touched by the charges of child abuse in the catholic church. bill: what happens next on the dates that are aren't? >> reporter: he's leaving february 28, 8:00 p.m. local time in rome. that leaves that very important vacancy and sets up a conclave of cardinals. vatican says by mid-march at the latest. vatican says we should have a new pope by esther sunday march 31. pope benedict will not take part in the conclave. usually a conclave happens after a pope dies. 1415 was the last time a pope quit in office. who is the next pope? he could come from developing areas of the world. it guarantees a lot of drama and a lot of black or white smoke coming from the roof is sistine chapel. march report concerns about the pope's health surfaced this past christmas eve. have it can watchers say he looked frail as he delivered the midnight mass. here he is riding in a motorized cart. the mass is moved up two hours to give the pope time to rest for the christmas day speech. he took the opportunity to urge peace

slightly over half of the cardinals who will elect his successor. but benedict xvi, or joseph ratzinger as he will begin on february 28, is too much of a respecter of the process to try to interfere with it. he is really going to disappear. you're not going to see him for a considerable length of time, that's how he wants it and that's how it ought to be. >> let me talk about cardinal timothy dolan, the religious new service calls him today the chris christie of the college of cardinals, a man who's a plus sized purlet who makes jokes about his weight. he said in terms of baseball, i am going to be pro choice. is it possible for them to choose an american pope? would it be good for the church to choose an american pope? >> reporter: if the cardinals decide that cardinal dolan is the man who can do what i just said to crystal, put a forward looking faith on the church's offer of disciple ship, i think he will be the man chosen. i think the old taboo about a superpower pope being off the table is really no longer in play. that had something to do with the cold war, obviously. but it also had

. pope benedict xvi was born in 1927 as joseph ratzinger in germany he was forced into hitler's youth at age 14. he served in the army but deserted and was captured by the americans. we are hoping to speak from officials from the archdiocese this morning. we'll let you know what they have to say. live from san francisco, i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. >>> in overnight news, a crash in concord leaves one man with life-threatening injuries. police say he was walking across clayton road near bay lie road around 6:15 last night when a car hit him. investigators say the 52-year- old man was not in a crosswalk. he was rushed to john muir medical center. police know who hit him. an investigation is still underway. >>> copper thieves are causing big problems for bay area drivers. alex savidge has a look at -- a look at this problem. >> reporter: copper thieves could be partly to blame for that lengthy commute. they targeted metering lights here at the isabel avenue entrance to 580 here. i will show you what they did. they broke into this electrical box here and they rip

realistic humility only enhances the wonderful virtues that i have seen. and cardinal joseph ratzinger and pope benedict xvi. >> bret: it was a surprise. coac.pope benedict xvi will resn february 28. that will start a conclave to make new pope in rome sometime before easter. here is the letter from pope benedict said. the resignation letter. in today's world, stout so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance of the life of faith in order to govern the bark of st. peter and proclaim the gospel, strength of mind and body are necessary. strength in the last few months deteriorated in me to the extent i have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. for this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom i declare i renounce the ministry of bishop of rome. successor of st. peter and entrusted to me by the cardinals on 19 april, 2005. amazing. welcome in a special panel to talk about the resignation. kathryn lopez with national review online. she talked to the pope last fall. david kerr is the c

cardinal and joseph ratzinger you may have heard of who became benedict xvi. this time you have 50 conclave veterans in the sistine chapel, and i think therefore will be more inclined to think they ought to have say in what's happening. >> and i believe some 67 who have been elevated to cardinal by benedict xvi. >> that's right. all 115 were appointed by john paul or benedict. >> so as catholics around the world look to the possible direction the church might take, and in america we know there's a big wing of the roman catholics who is looking for a more progressive, more modern catholic church, that addresses the real issues of living in today's 21st century world, other parts of the word are much more traditional, much more conservative model. how do you see it going forward and to you think there will be an american pope for the first time? >> an american pope is a long shot, but for the first time it's thinkable. in the old idea you couldn't have a super power pope because america is too powerful and if you put that guy in, half the world will think vatican policy is being scri

humility of joseph ratzinger, as he will become at the moment of his abdication once again. and in a strange way, this is his last great service to the church. he wants the church to have the kind of strong leadership that it needs. as i understand it, the process will unfold rather much like the process would unfold had the pope died except for the fact that the cardinals will obviously now be gathering in rome in the weeks before february 28th so that they can enter the conclave immediately on the abdication of the pope and begin the process of choosing his successor, which could take several days or several weeks. >> for those who are not familiar with this process, the papal conclave will be convened and require a tw-thirds majority among the cardinals to elect a successor? >> that's correct. and one thing about the timing of this that is interesting is that the college of cardinals is now just about as full as it can be. the maximum number of the electors is set at 120. i think we're almost there right now. so, this will be the largest conclave in history when it convenes either

maybe he wanted to avoid that. a former german cardinal joseph ratzinger was conservative faith and modern issues, relations between catholics and jews and muslims, and especially the widespread charges against members of his catholic church and child abuse. the question now is, who gets to be picked as the new pope of the billion plus catholics around the world. the speculation he could come from africa or south america, somewhere in the developing world, history could be made, but as you note, megyn, the pope according to his defenders and supporters making a very courageous move. >> megyn: greg, thank you. we're hearing reports that the president could call for a new round of federal spending in his state of the union address tomorrow night. a plan compared to his previous stimulus plan and we just received new fox news polls last week asking voters if they believe the stimulus of 2009 actually worked. just 34% said yes. 60% said, no, it did not work and only 29% of respondents saying he they he would support another round of stimulus spending. 61% say they would oppose it and th

, joseph, roman catholic church, cardinal ratzinger. ratzinger. >> oh, back now to more recent images and it's clear that the pope, vatican leader has taken a toll on him physically and such a incredibly demanding position, he insists that the decision to step down was made without any outside pressure. greg palkot is outside london with the latest. >> reporter: it was a big surprise to a lot of people. pope benedict xvi saying he will step down on february 28th, less than eight years into the papacy and he went on to say that specifically his strength was deteriorating in the last few months and that's why he made the decision. according to the vatican today, this sets up a conclave of cardinals and elections for a new pope by mid march and the vatican saying we should see a new pope by easter sunday, march 31st. and benedict will not take part in that conclave and has to be said conclaves usually happen when poapst die and the last time a pope resigned was the year 1415. and pope benedict says that poapst should step down when they don't feel up to it. we saw john paul ii suffered t

, the former joseph ratzinger and we have the seat is vacant. the seat of peter is now vacant. father bartuni krc, your feelin? >> the feelings i've had all day. i'm feeming more. bitt bittersweet. nice to see how the decision of the pope is taken by the catholic faithful throughout the world. following what he believes to be the good for the church and many of us have come to really love him and respect him. and so, you really feel it. i mean, at this moment. well, there you go. at the same time, when you see the -- when you see the swiss guards kind of ending their duty for the time being, i can't help but thinking of the whole history of the papacy. they're a personal guard of the pope because the pope is attacked before. the vatican has been attacked in the 20 centuries of church. even though there's surprises in the past, the schurch is still here and god is still working through the church and so i feel a lot of hope, as well. kind of excitement about what might -- what the next couple of weeks might bring. >> we see the three men outside those doors. those are vatican p

the monastery. >> reporter: as cardinals joseph ratzinger, he was labelled god's rottweiler. he was shown a gentle side. never more so than meeting with sex abuse victims in his 2008 trip in the u.s. he saved his biggest surprise for last says john thamus who covered the vatican for 30 years. >> he will be remembered as the pope who resigned. it will be greatest gift to the church. >> reporter: currently, the conclave to elect the successor to benedict xvi is to happen between march 15th and march 20th. there is talk of moving that date up. all of the cardinals are expected to be here on february 28th. alex, back to you. >>> anne thompson, thank you. the blame game on tsequestratio. the new york times says those will cut 14,000 teachers and employees. and 250,000 civilians employed by the army could be furloughed for up to 22 days. aircraft would forego maintenance. >> it's the president who proposed this sequester. is the house with smarter cuts in other areas of government. >> the fact is this was never the president's idea. this was the result of hostage politics in the republica

, joseph ratzinger, was a conservative and advocate of traditional faith. he had to deal with a whole lot of issues between catholics and muslims and jews during his time in office. he also had to deal with scandal including the widespread charges of child abuse inside the catholic church. the question now is, who will be the new pope before the billion plus catholics around the world? there is some speculation it could come from south america, from africa, the developing world. history could be made but as we've seen in the past certainly there will be drama as well as those black and then white smoke signals come up from the sis teen chap nell. we'll be -- sistine chapel. we'll be watching. jenna: the twitter account we put up on the screen is something new he started. probably won't get the announcement from there. that would be a little too much. greg, much more on the story throughout the day today. big one as it is. thank you. >> reporter: thank you. >> look at that, guys. that is a tornado right there. >> look it. >> oh, wow, dude. [inaudible] >> that is right there. jon: people ar

the conclave of 2005 is there is no clear front-runner in the same way that cardinal joseph ratzinger was the last time around. but there are perhaps two or three figures one could say are the next tier down. cardinal angelo shokoal, cardin mark willet, who runs the power for bishops, a deeply spiritual figure and perhaps leonardo sandri, a career vatican official a man that brings the first world and the third world together. we shall see if one of those guys breaks through. >> reporter: indeed and, of course, there may even be a cardinal from the third world, the developing world, who might be elevated. we're going to interview the american cardinal timothy dolan in a few hours from now. we'll have that live on cnn and he's used an awful lot of colorful language to insist he's not the next pope. but his name is constantly cropping up as well. soledad? >> we're already taking bets on who the next successor will be, i'm not surprised about that, guys, thank you. pope benedict xvi will be staying at the picturesque castel gandolfo, southeast of rome. it's a small castle thtle and b anderso

protected the holy and also knew benedict when benedict was joseph ratzinger. >> he could work with a real crowd and with his experience in theater and poetry and everything, he would really reach people like that. >> widmer, an author who teaches at catholic university, says as a swiss guard you never spoke to a pope or cardinal unless he addressed you first but he and benedict would chat when benedict was waiting to see pope john paul. >> completely open. >> reporter: what was he like to talk to? >> very -- he would ask me what my interests were and how i felt and how i saw things. >> reporter: and with a sense of humor, like when benedict offered to sign widmer's copy of a book that he written which was pretty thick. >> when i gave it to him he said, you're really reading this? and i said, i'm trying. he said, it helps to do it in small steps. >> reporter: but he also had a personal crisis as a guard, spending his first christmas away from home. john paul helped him through that. >> i sort of had a meltdown and right at that moment he comes out of his apartment and he noticed and h

election of a new pope. >> joseph ratzinger, matt, in 2005, was one of only two cardinals who had participated in the papal elections. the two elections of 1978. he knows exactly what the purchas burden of responsibility is that these men are taking on themselves. he knows the conflicting emotions that many of them have. some of which greg and father baron have just described. i think he was saying to them, look, i know how you feel. and i am going to be with you in solidarity and in prayer over the next several weeks. of what is going to be a difficult test. >> at the same time, he has made clear, he does not want to exert undue influence on the process. this is not somebody who's behind the scenes twisting arms saying this should be the next pope? absolutely not, savannah. he is going to disappear. we're not going to see this man for months. he's too much a respecter of the process. he's too much of a respecter of his brother cardinals. and he's too, frankly, humble a human being to try to monkey in any way whatsoever with the selection of his successor. >> matt? >> yeah, i was

it was joseph ratzinger, the new pope, i was on the first plane to bavaria to do the story about this new man's life, this new pope's life. anyway, yes, it was emotional. we heard him speaking english, which was interesting because we're used to hearing him speak primarily in italian. it was clear from today's general audience, it was a different speech. normally it's a catechism. this was really a reflection on his decision and his thanks to the people who supported him and to the faithful who accepted his decision to step down from his post. very unusual moment and historic moment in that people generally don't get chance to say farewell to a pope. a pope passes on and then another one is elected. so this was a very special moment and he clearly was emotional and spoke about how his time as pope had been full of joy, but also full of difficult moments and i think we can read into that in many ways. but he said most importantly that they never felt alone, that he felt he was asked to do this job. he didn't seek it out. and he was guided the entire time. now the clock is ticking. this

. what has struck me in the 25 years i have known the man who will return to being joseph ratzinger, is the simplicity of his soul. this is a thoroughly convinced christian believer who happens to be one of the smartest people in the world who speaks six or seven languages with complete flewency, who knows the history of biblical religion from "a" to "z." who never wanted to be an executive, a manager, who always thought of himself primarily as a scholar. but who somehow could translate all of that learning into beautiful simplicities about god's love for the world and for god's people. >> and, george, even as we honor the service of this pope, we look forward to the election of a new pope. and tell us about this process. i mean, is this a sort of thing where, for lack of a better term, there are front-runners? >> there will be an enormous amount of ink spilled in the italian press over the next two weeks about front-runners. most of that would be silly. there are a number of cardinals who fit what would seem to me to be the profile. first of all, a man in full physical vigor. that sugg

to this. and with that, after eight years, formal cardinal joseph rat ratzinger retires as pop. as we continue to see what the conclave will do as we search for his successor as the entire world watches what is happening with him. >>> got some breaking news out of the new york fed. a hard right turn here to steve liesman. >> why does this always happen to me, carl? >> hard to follow the pope, my man. >> exactly. let me do my best. the new york fed reporting that total consumer indebtedness rising a scant 3% to 11.3 trillion. housing debt was flat. it was a small gain but the first gain we've seen since the first quarter of 2011, that was thought to be a bit of a statistical anomaly. so maybe this is the first real gain. let me show you what rose. auto loans up 15 billion. credit cards up 5 billion. the perennial student loans up 10 billion and they have been rising quite a bit. delinquencies are quite high. all delinquencies declined except for student loans and they were up almost 12% and probably because of a whole bunch of different reasons, carl, they could be twice as high as tha